Celebrating food, wine and song Winter Wine Festival 2013 coming to Wentworth by the Sea

By Lars R. Trodson

fosters.com

By Lars R. Trodson

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Lars R. Trodson

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 3:15 AM

Here are the essential ingredients to any good party: a mix of interesting people, laughter, great food and wine that are all enjoyed in a beautiful setting.

This is exactly what you’ll get during every one of the 16 events during the 9th Annual Winter Wine Festival at the Wentworth by the Sea that will take place between Feb. 1 and March 16.

Wine will be poured. Food from all over the world — including fresh food grown on local farms — will be served. Music will be played. New people will be met.

The majority of the wines served this year will come from a vibrant part of the world: South America, where conditions are so perfect for growing grapes that it is now one of the great wine-making regions of the world.

The Wentworth is the place you’ll want to be. You don’t want to look at a friend’s Facebook page and see a picture of them at one of the events and say, I should’ve been there.

“You may think of the hotel as the place for your parents, but that’s not really what the Wentworth is about any more,” said Beverage Manager Scott Moreau. “The Wentworth is the place to be.”

Here’s only a sampling of the dinners you can choose from: a Pinot & Pesce Dinner; a dinner made from foods grown entirely within a 50-mile radius of the hotel; The Diamond Dinner, the very essence of impressive elegance; and the Extraordinarily Economical Palate Pleasing Dinner. You can attend the Sommelier Standoff, in which two of the most experienced wine sommeliers’ in the state — Jessica Sutton and Sarah MacKinley — will pair the perfect wine with the perfect meal and diners will be the judges on who did best.

This year the sommelier competition, which takes place on March 1, is expected to be especially fun: Jessica has won the contest two years in a row and this year Sarah is out to take the grand prize for the first time.

“This year there are dinners for everybody,” said Moreau. “I admit they’ve been intimidating in past years. I won’t deny that for a second. But if you think you’re coming to a dinner that’s going to be more like a seminar on what wine is all about, that’s not what’s going to happen. You’ll taste some great wines, but what we’re emphasizing this year is a great time where people can get together at some of the unique events that take place in the Seacoast all year long.”

There will be both wine and beer. At the Bogle in Blue Jeans and Rockin’ Rombauer Dinner on the second night of the festival guests are in fact asked not to dress up — it’s jeans and casual attire. The wines at each of the dinners are made and marketed by some of the sharpest young minds in the business — such as Geoff Whitman (class of Dover High School ‘89) — who has partnered with Boston Red Sox legend Bill Lee to create the highly-regarded “Spaceman” Cabernet Sauvignon.

You’ll be introduced to wines made in Chile and Argentina — locales now recognized to have perhaps the finest wine-growing climate in the world. These wines are not only delicious and new, but they’re affordable and can add the right ingredient to any party, no matter where it’s held.

You’ll be introduced (if you haven’t already been to Moxy in Portsmouth) to the dishes created by Wentworth alum Chef Matt Louis, who is championing the incredible variety of foods that are grown right in our area.

A word about the Wentworth itself.

If you’ve lived in the Seacoast during the last decade or so, you know the story of the Wentworth by the Sea. It was the area’s grand hotel for the first half of the 20th century, only to fall out of fashion and close in the early 1980s.

It sat, empty and old, for almost two decades when it was finally purchased by Ocean Properties Ltd. and re-opened in all its former glory in 2003. Today, the hotel is known for its elegant Sunday brunches, beautiful rooms and peerless customer service.

It’s a real gem on the Seacoast, and this year Moreau and his team at the Wentworth believe that 2013 is the year to introduce the hotel to a new generation of Seacoast residents. The events at the Wine Festival are the perfect events to do that.

“If you want a beautiful night out to let your hair down, there’s an event for you,” said Moreau. “You may think you know the Wentworth, but you don’t. Come out and see us for the first time, or reintroduce yourself to us. These dinners are going to be great.”

Friday, Feb. 1, 7 p.m.

9th Annual Grand Tasting Reception

The opening event is the Wentworth’s signature Grand Tasting Reception. Sample hundreds of wines from around the world and the tastiest hors d’oeuvres prepared by some of the Seacoast’s most talented chefs.

Scott Moreau, Beverage Manager of the Wentworth by the Sea, said that even though it may not seem like it, winter is a great time to visit the hotel.

The Wine Festival was originally held at the hotel in the winter because it was a quiet time of the year, but everyone quickly realized that there was an added benefit.

“There’s nothing better in the area than the Wentworth in the winter,” Moreau said. “There’s a warmth and an ambience to it. Everything in here, the fireplaces, the furniture, is really very beautiful in the winter.”

Moreau also points out that it’s a great time to have the festival because it’s a quiet time of year. There’s always something going on in the Seacoast in the summer, fall or during the holidays. But in the early part of the year people are looking for something to do.

“As it turns out this region needs an event like this during the winter,” Moreau said. “These dinners give you the best reason to get out of the house.”

The other benefit is that the classic Wentworth by the Sea is also just around the corner.

“We’re the hotel for local folks,” Moreau said. “It’s eight minutes from Portsmouth but when you come here it feels like you’re on vacation. It’s a different world.”

Robbie LaBlanc is full of energy and enthusiasm. He talks about the Bogle In Blue Jeans Night with such affection and joie de vivre that after you finish talking to him you want to get online and buy a ticket for the event right away.

But LaBlanc is also the first guy to admit that if you’re looking for a stuffy, snobbish night out then the Bogle Night is not for you.

“You’re gonna taste a lot of different types of wine,” he said. “You’ll have five or six of them to choose from and it’s done in a way so that you won’t be intimidated by the wine stuff. Even if you don’t know a lot about wine that’s cool because what we do at the Bogle dinners is very laid back and not very technical. There’s no pressure. It’s just a lot of fun.”

During the dinner, LaBlanc, who is the northeast representative for the winery, may even play a little music (he’s a musician himself) and he and his team will be happy to answer any questions guests may have about the wines being served.

“A lot of people my age have hangups about wine. They think they have to swill the glass and if they don’t they think they don’t have it together. But that’s not the way it is,” LaBlanc said. “We’ll tell you about the Bogle family — we’re still a family-owned business and the Bogle children who run it now are all between 35 and 40 years old. These are very, very dedicated kids looking to make the very best wines on the market today.”

Consumer Reports, in fact, chose Bogle’s 2009 chardonnay as one of the best wine’s on the market in its modest price range.

The Bogle In Blue Jeans “Not So Grand” Dinner is the second event on the Wine Festival schedule. It takes place in February, admittedly not the most hospital month on the calendar in New England.

But the Wentworth that night will be a warm and welcoming place. The fireplace will be ablaze, the conversation will be buzzing and the wine from Bogle vineyard will flow.

Geoff Whitman is sitting in a restaurant in California waiting for a colleague from China to meet him when he takes a moment to talk about the wines he represents. Whitman is the General Manager of Michael Mondavi Family Estates and a winemaker himself who also has a local connection: He’s a member of Dover High School’s Class of 1989.

Whitman readily admits that it was not a career he had envisioned for himself. In college he met a sophisticated European woman and was immediately captivated by her. Thinking he would impress her by serving wine to her rather than beer, Whitman went into a wine store in Boston and bought a bottle crafted by Robert Mondavi. This led, as they say, to the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Not only with the woman but with wine.

When he first told that story to the Mondavi family, they were skeptical. Really? But Whitman said it was the Mondavi family that led him away from Bud Light to the world of wine.

Whitman today owns a brand called “Spellbound” and “Medusa”, which he’s making with Mondavi scion Robert Mondavi.

He’s also partnered with a New England icon, former Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee, to create a red wine called “Spaceman” — named, of course, after Lee’s famous moniker. Lee is also from a winemaking family. His grandparents owned a winery called Buena Vista Wines in California. “So he’s got wine in his blood both literally and figuratively,” Whitman joked.

“Spaceman” has been well-received, and not because it’s associated with a famous name but because it’s a great wine with a modest price tag. These are not, Whitman said, “white tablecloth wines.” These are vino da tavola — table wines.

Still, it’s impressive. “When I look and see my name on a bottle right next to a really famous name, I know I’m not the star. I’m happy to be on the marquee,” said Whitman.

The Traditional Vintner’s Dinner is not as — well — traditional as the name sounds. Whitman will tell a few stories, mostly about his journeys and how he got into wine (see above).

“My story is that I’m a guy that found my way essentially to the pinnacle of wine in the U.S.,” he said. Because of that, Whitman doesn’t shy away from how he feels about the social benefits of wine. “I still tout the health benefits but wine also makes you more of a sophisticated person. It’s the gracious way of living, as Mondavi used to put it,” Whitman said. “It enriches your life.”

This is the fourth time that Whitman has hosted one of the Wine Festival Dinners. “I’m grateful the Wentworth keeps having me back. They’ve embraced me as a local guy. I just want to hang out because it’s a great festival and we put on a great event.”

What better name could you have for a wine served at a Mardi Gras event than “Debauchery”? Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday as it’s called down in New Orleans, does not exactly conjure up images of candlelit dinners, easy listening jazz and aperitifs served in dainty little glasses.

So this is what you’ll get on Feb. 9 — a little bit of Debauchery and a little bit of everything else, including great food and conversation. There will be a little corner of old New Orleans at the Wentworth that night. The slogan for Debauchery Wines is, after all, “Just a little bit naughty ...”

At last year’s Fat Tuesday Celebration, Debauchery owner and founder Jerry Prial (who was the past president of Redhook Brewery) brought in a fortune teller. This year he may bring in a Mardi Gras band. Who knows? It’s always unpredictable on Fat Tuesday.

“Young people appreciate wine differently than older generations do,” said Prial, who opened his company in 2009. “How they consume it. How they buy it. How they think about it. It’s not like you have a quiet dinner with a friend and a Bordeaux. They don’t take wine so seriously. Let’s have fun.”

At this year’s Fat Tuesday dinner, Prial said he will be serving Debauchery’s new pinot noir, which he said he’s particularly excited about. It’s taken him more than two years to get this wine to market.

Prial said he simply had an epiphany one night about the appeal of wine after three decades as a brewer. “I was with some friends and we opened up the second bottle and I said to myself ‘I should look into doing this’,” he said.

As he started to familiarize himself with wines, he realized he wanted to stay away from the more traditional wines from France, Italy and Spain. He was looking down south, at such places like South America and Australia. “My goal was to look for these new world wines,” he said.

So he decided to head down to Chile and found a great winemaker and chose a memorable name that would appeal to a younger demographic. “I want people to buy the wine twice and you can’t do that if you don’t have the right wine in the bottle,” he said.

Prial said he pays particular attention to trends in the marketplace. There is now, for instance, a trend toward sweeter wines. “I don’t put an emphasis on what I personally like,” he said. “I have to pay attention to the marketplace.” He said he also doesn’t put too much stock in the traditional wine rating system.

“I have a three point rating system,” Prial said. “If people like it, it’s worth one point. If they buy it, that’s worth one point. If they take it to a friend’s house, that’s worth a point. So I have a high rating of three. That’s the best.”

When asked why someone should attend the Fat Tuesday Celebration, Prial invoked the classic slogan from Nike footwear: “Just do it,” he said.

Let’s say you have a new significant person in your life or you’ve been in a happy, long-term relationship. Let’s say you want to impress that person. Or you want to spice things up just because you feel like it. But let’s say you want to do these things but aren’t in the mood to travel or spend a lot of money. Then this is the event for you.

“The Wentworth by the Sea is only minutes away from anywhere you may live on the Seacoast, but it feels like you’re far away,” said Scott Moreau, Beverage Manager of the hotel.

The fireplace will be burning, and you’ll enjoy a four course meal of “aphrodisiac foods” paired with the lovely, full-bodied wines from Domaine Chandon.

If you’re in for some flirty fun on the Seacoast, then check this one out.

What happens on this night is that the choicest, freshest cuts of meat from McKinnon’s Market in Portsmouth will be paired with unique wines from Argentina. This promises to be a rich, unique experience from both a food and wine perspective.

Argentina, like so much of South America, has enjoyed a huge winemaking boom in the last 10 years, according to Jason Kroot, the northeast regional sales manager for Wine Bridge Imports, which will be bringing the wines created by the Atamisque Winery to the tables that night.

The appeal of Argentina to a new generation of wine drinkers can be summed up in one word: malbec.

This grape has energized the region and captivated wine drinkers all over the world. “French wines,” said Kroot, “Are consumed by an older demographic.”

The malbec grape, it so happens, is originally from the Bordeaux region in France but is now celebrated as an Argentine varietal. It’s a dark and robust grape, rich in tannins. In Argentina, they’re grown at about 4,000 feet above sea level in a region without a lot of rain, making for perfect, gentle conditions to grow the grape.

Kroot said that the malbec is a perfect blend because Argentina itself is a place known for its meat dishes — rich beef and sausage meals. “It’s an ideal combination,” he said.

He also pointed out a detail that makes the wines from Atamisque unique is that the grapes are handpicked and the wine is not pumped from one location to the next, which Kroot said can damage the quality of the wine. The wines from Atamisque are handcarted from each location, which helps preserve the integrity of the product.

“Atamisque is a high-end winery,” said Kroot, who will be attending the Wentworth Wine Festival for the first time this year. He said that he’ll most likely serve a pinot and a sauvignon blanc, as well as two sparkling wines during the dinner.

“The best winemakers in the world are now down in Argentina,” he said. And the lucky guests at the Wild Game Dinner will be introduced to their incredible creations.

Chef Adam Savage of the Sagamore Resort in Bolton Landing, New York will create dishes paired with a wine from Art & Farm Wine, which is out of Napa, California.

The parings promise to be unusual, to say the least. Unexpected. Meals and wine you won’t find anywhere else.

The reason why attendees won’t find the wines they’ll drink at this dinner anywhere else is because they are, in essence, going to make the wines themselves right at the table.

According to Rob McDonald, who owns and co-founded Art & Farm with his wife, Kat, said “People attending the dinner can expect to experience the true art of winemaking — blending. This is what a great chef does in the kitchen, takes excellent quality components and puts them together to make something grander than the sum of the bits.”

McDonald is going to give each guest three different wines that they will be able to blend and make their own wine.

McDonald said that guests at the Art & Farm Winery do this quite frequently. “We find that first and foremost it is fun,” he said. “But it can get quite competitive, depending on the group. It teaches people to think about flavors and gives them a greater understanding of what they like in a wine.”

McDonald said he will be featuring the winery’s three blended wines:

The Messenger, which is a combination of a cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, cabernet franc and montepulciano.

Red Wine Number Two, a blend of grenache, syrah, mourvedre and viognier.

White Wine Number One, a stylish combination of sauvignon blanc, muscat and Riesling.

“We’re unique,” said McDonald. “We teach by doing, having fun and pouring heavy!”

This is a tapas dinner, featuring a wide variety of small courses, as well as wines, spirits and beer, that are either made or grown within a 50-mile radius of the Wentworth.

It’s as simple, and as delicious, as that.

“The name of the dinner pretty much tells you what it is,” said Wentworth alum Chef Matt Louis, founder and owner of Moxy, the hot new restaurant in Portsmouth. Louis will be creating the meals for this event.

But underlying the simplicity of the premise of the dinner is a passion that Louis has for the wide variety of indigenous foods that Louis will be working with as he creates this unique experience.

“This is an opportunity to not only showcase the vast amount of product — and product in the offseason — that can be found in our area,” Louis said. “This has not been fully celebrated. Some people are into it but local food has not really been celebrated but not to the level it should be. These are incredible foods that are right outside our own door.”

All the menu items available at Moxy are made from locally grown foods. “Everything is from northern New England,” Louis said. “If they’re not indigenous, you won’t see it on the menu. There are no almonds or papayas. There’s no local foie gras, so why not look for things that are found around here?”

Louis said the product list of foods found around here is diverse: sausages, meats, locally-made bacon, cheese, fruits and root vegetables such as potatoes, corn, and greens such as kale and sunchokes. He pointed out there are plenty of greenhouses and cold storage here in New England that keeps the products fresh and crisp.

The other notion that Louis would like to dispel is that locally grown food on smaller farms is more expensive.

“I don’t buy that,” he said. “It just hasn’t been driven into the marketplace enough. We need more people committed to the cause.”

Louis mentioned the experience people have when they buy something fresh from a local farmer’s market. “The difference in taste is undeniable, you cannot deny the difference. It’s unbelievable when things taste like they should.”

He talks about how the cabbage that he cuts at Moxy is still so fresh that it’s “weeping. In the store the root end is all dried up, but when you serve local product it has an impact not only on taste but on the local economy. We support ourselves and our neighbors.”

Louis makes a good point: “If you spend 50 dollars at the grocery store it’s not a big deal, but to the local farmer it is a big deal.”

For that reason alone, Louis said, “We need to do more dinners like this.”

A sommelier is someone who is a trained wine professional, knowledgeable about serving wines and pairing them with the right meals.

Jessica Sutton and Sarah MacKinley are trained sommeliers. This is not simply someone who waits at table. Their study is exhaustive, and the two became the first women in New Hampshire (both are in their early 30s) recognized as sommeliers.

The Standoff is a contest between the two to see who pairs the best wines with each course as chosen by the guests at the dinner.

This is the third year they’ve participated in the Standoff. The hitch is that Jessica has won the first two outings, so Sarah is primed for the competition.

The best part about the event?

“The customer gets to be the judge,” said Sarah, who works as a wine representative for the Perfecta Wine Company out of Manchester.

Jessica agreed. “You get to vote and every American loves to vote,” she said. Jessica is a wine rep for Vinilandia NH wine distributors.

It’s the American Idol of wine dinners.

Sarah, for her part, said she doesn’t consider her own taste in wines as she prepares for event.

“It’s not what we like,” said Jessica. “It’s a competition and you want to win and I try to think about what the people at dinner would like.”

Both she and Sarah are given the menu a few weeks before the actual dinner itself, and each thinks about what the customer will like to have with the dish.

“This is about pairing the best wine with the food,” Sarah said.

A different wine will be served with each course, and all of the guests will be given a scorecard.

Their goal is to speed the process up this year. In the past, they’ve given a lot of information about the wines, but this year they’ll let the wines speak for themselves and let the guests decide.

When asked if there are still general rules for wine, such as the old one about drinking red wine with meat and white wine with fish, both Sarah and Jessica said no, they really don’t.

“There are no rules in the wine world anymore,” said Jessica. “Cabernet drinkers are going to drink cabernet with filet of sole no matter what.”

So, come by the Sommelier Standoff. Sarah and Jessica are going to give you a choice of the wines they each represent. And the guests will decide whether Sarah makes the best pairing or if Jessica will bring home the prize for the third year in the row.

Randy Ullom, winemaker for Kendall Jackson Winery, said that 2012 was a very good year for their wines.

“It went beautifully,” he said. “It was a great year.” Ullom said that it’s been too rainy for the past few years but now, in this drier year, the wines will be first rate.

The grapes for the Chardonnays had a golden color and the sugar levels were what they ought to be. The red wine grapes had a good color and dimples on the berry. Ullom said the skin of the fruit was just right this year.

The days in Napa Valley had a moderate temperature and the nights were cool and there was not a lot of rain. There wasn’t too much fog and it was burned off by 10 a.m.

All in all, he said, “it was a perfect growing season.”

Kendall Jackson is a family-owned and family-run winery. “We run our own grapes, grown on the cool coast of California. There’s that marine influence on the wines.” The grapes for this year’s wine were picked last October.

The Kendall Jackson Dinner is an opportunity “for people to try Kendall Jackson wines from California,” Ullom said.

The meals will be prepared by Executive Chef John Welch of the Wentworth by the Sea.

“This is the dinner I’m most looking forward to,” said Scott Moreau of the Wentworth. “You can come to this dinner and learn about some new, inexpensive, high quality wines and eat some great comfort food.”

The reason this event appeals to Moreau is that he’s like a lot of people when it comes to wines. He’ll walk into a wine store or a New Hampshire liquor outlet and be “overwhelmed” by the sheer number of varieties that he has to choose from. “I’m intimidated,” Moreau said.

This dinner is a chance for people without a lot of wine knowledge can come and taste some great wines chosen by some true wine professionals.

Moreau said that guests, in addition to the wines served during the event, will be given a cheat sheet of wines to bring home with them so that it won’t be so hard to choose the next time they wander into the vast jungle of the wine outlet. “We’ll give you information on 20 or so wines,” said Moreau.

The wine stewards at the Wentworth will search out wines with the highest ratings with the best taste at the best cost for the dinner.

This is the five diamond event of the 2013 Wine Festival. At every event throughout the Wine Festival, the staff at the Wentworth by the Sea pulls out all the stops, and each night they do it in a different way.

Whether it’s a night featuring locally brewed beers, or wild game entrées, or even their version of a potluck dinner, everything is done to perfection.

And this is the night when the hotel pulls out all the stops, said Scott Moreau.

“This is the white-glove service night,” said Moreau. “We always treat people like royalty, only on this night everybody will also be dressed that way.”

Moreau said on this night the hotel will be pairing up with Demeter’s Steakhouse, “so you know you’ll get only the best cuts of meat,” said Moreau.

“Put that dress or the suit on that you never get to wear,” he said. “This is the final night of the festival, and we’re going to end with a real flourish.”

For more information: www.demeterssteakhouse.com.

For inquiring minds

Screw-tops Vs. Corks

Randy Ullom, the winemaker from Kendall Jackson Winery, was one of the winemakers who weighed in on the infamous cork versus screw top discussion that used to define the difference between wines of quality of those of a lesser vintage. Screw-tops, of course, were not associated with quality.

“A screw top is not as romantic as a cork,” Ullom said. “Screw-tops bring back memories of Boone’s Farm.”

Jessica Sutton, the wine rep from Vinilandia NH, agreed. “There is a romanticism removing the cork from the bottle, but it doesn’t make any sense any more.” Sutton pointed out that cork is largely grown in Portugal, Spain and Italy and to ship it out to other countries for the use in wines bottles only to have it shipped back didn’t make much sense any more. And screw-tops also have a much lower rate of failure than corks.

“Nobody should be afraid of a wine with a screw top,” Sutton said.

Why South America?

Why have the countries in South America — places such as Argentina, Chile and Mendoza — become such hot zones for winemakers?

“It’s the perfect place to grow grapes,” said Jerry Prial, founder and owner of Debauchery Wines.

He lists the reasons why that is: It’s isolated, which means that it isn’t subjected to the kinds of pests that can ruin a year’s crop.

It’s relatively dry. “There are no mold epidemics,” said Prial.

It has natural boundaries. Grapes are gentle creatures, and they don’t like a lot of spikes in climate, Prial said. Growing grapes on the sides of mountains in Chile leads to a much healthier, robust crop of berries.

South America has a Mediterranean-style climate, which is most hospitable to the grape.

There’s plenty of water.

Prial said that many varietals are now grown in Chile alone. “It’s 2,700 miles long, so it has a little bit of everything,” he said.